Optical time of flight systems generally use optical light signals to measure distances to objects based on the time of flight of the light signal to the object and back to the system. For example, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR, LIDAR, lidar, LADAR) is an optical time of flight system that measures the distance to one or more objects by reflecting a laser light (a single narrow pulse, sequence of modulated narrow pulses, and/or one or more continuous waveforms) off of the one or more objects and analyzing the reflected light. More specifically, LiDAR systems typically determine a time of flight (TOF) for the laser signal to travel from the laser to an object and return back to the system by analyzing either the correlation or the phase shift between the reflected light signal and the transmitted light signal. The distance to the object may then be determined based on the TOF. These systems may be used in many applications including: geography, geology, geomorphology, seismology, transportation, and remote sensing. For example, in transportation, automobiles may include LiDAR systems to monitor the distance between the vehicle and other objects (e.g., another vehicle). The vehicle may utilize the distance determined by the LiDAR system to, for example, determine whether the other object, such as another vehicle, is too close, and automatically apply braking.
Many LiDAR systems use a rotating optical measurement system to determine distance information for objects in its field of view (FOV). The intensity of the reflected light is measured for several scan points within the FOV and across several vertical planes through a full 360 degree rotation to generate a point cloud image.